Car-door hanger



(N oa Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. I

E. Y. MOORE.

GAR DOOR HANGER.

No. 308,916. Patented Dec. 9, 1884 w M E mfieflyb; I Invention":

. (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. E. Y. MOORE.

GAR DOOR HANGER. I No. 308,916. Patented Dec. 9, 1884 N ETERS. Plwmmvw mmr, Washington. n. q

STATES EDWVARD Y. MOORE, OF CHIOAGO,'ILLINOIS.

CAR-=DOOR HANGER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 308,916, dated December9, 1884.

I Application filed November 7, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDWARD Y. MooRE, residing at Chicago, in the countyof Cook and State of Illinois, and a citizen of the United States, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Car-Door Hangers, of which thefollowing is a full description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, in which Figure l is a side elevation of a portion of acar-body and door, showing the devices for hanging or supporting thedoor, so thatit can be easily opened and closed. Fig. 2 is a verticalsection through the door on line 20 w of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a longitudinalsection through the door on line 00 as of Fig. 1; Fig. 4:, an enlargeddetail showing the corner of the door in elevation, with the backportion or plate of the frame or support for the roller thereon; Fig. 5,an enlarged detail showing an edge view of the corner of the door, withthe frame or support, roller or wheel, carryingplate, andoperating-lever thereon; Fig. 6, an enlarged detail, being an inner faceview of the outer portion or plate of the roller frame or casing; Fig.7, an enlarged detail, beingaside elevation of the roller-plate androller; Fig. 8, an enlarged detail, being a vertical section through thecorner of the door, the frame or casing for the roller, with theroller-plate and roller in elevation.

It is customary to support or' hang car-doors between stationary tracksor guide-rails located above and below the door on the side of the bodyof the car, the door having hangers and guides or forks which pass overthe tracks or guide-rails and retain the door in place. This method ofsupporting or hanging such doors renders the opening and closing of thedoor exceedingly difficult, requiring in some instances the exertion ofconsiderable force in order to move the door, To overcome thisdifficulty such doors have been supported or hung ona stationary trackor guide-rail by means of rollers or wheels and suspending straps orhangers, the rollers or wheels resting on the tracks'or guide-rails atall times; but this plan is notfeasible, on accountof the constant jarof the car when in motion, which jar opens the door when closed, orviceversa, byreason of the rollers or wheels running easily on the trackor guideway, there not being described, for instance, in the patent of'Water-' house, No 101,194, March 22, A. D. 1870.

It will be seen that my combination of devices, operating as a car-doorhanger, is such that when the Vertical hand-lever is moved in thedirection desired for moving the door that the door is lifted, and thata continuation. of pressure in the same direction serves also to slidethe door, in that respect differing from the aforesaid prior horizontalhandlever, which requires a downward pressure for lifting the door, anda separate sidewise application of force for sliding the door. Otherprior doors initially lifted prior to sliding have involved the use of averticalhand-lever, which, like mine, required pressure only in thedirection in which the door was to be moved; but, unlike mine, said lastnamed prior lever was itself one of the roller-levers, and it wascoupled to a similar vertical roller-lever, both of which had a shortcross piece orshoe, which, by being rocked in either direction upon itsend supports served to lift the dooras, for instance, as shown anddescribed in the Letters Patent to Earle, reissued April 19, 1881, No.9,679.

The object of this invention is to obviate objections heretoforeexisting in the use of ro.lers or wheels for supporting or hangingcar-doors, and to support or hang the door so that it will ride or runeasily in opening and closing, and at the same time prevent or obviateany liability of the door to open or close of its own accord; and itsnature consists in providing a roller or wheel which can be ing therollers or wheels in contact with the track or guideway as the door isopened or closed, and in the several parts and combina tions of partshereinafter set forth and claimed as new.

In the drawings, A represents the body of a car; 13, the door; C, thesupport for the lower guideway or track; D, the support for the upperguide-strip or track; a, the sliding plate or support; I), the wheel orroller; 0 c, the frame or outer casing; d, the engagingpins; f, pivotsof the levers or links a to the frame or casing c,- g, the lever foroperating the levers or links 6 6, h, the anti-friction roller on whichthe ends of the levers or links c (2 rest; 13 i, the handles or stirrupson the lever 9,- j, the guard or stop-plate to which the lever ispivoted; k, the lower guide rail or track; Z, the upper guide strip ortrack; an, the guides or forks.

The body A of the car and the door 15, with the strips or rails C D forthe guide-strips 01' tracks, may be of any of the usual and wellknownforms of construction and arrangement, the guide-rails being secured tothe body of the car above and below the door, and being provided withguide'strips or tracks k lot the form shown, or of other form suitablefor rollers or wheels to travel on, and for the guides or forks m topass thereover.

In the form shown in Figs. 1 to 8, inclusive, a roller, 1), of anysuitable form of construction is mounted on a trunnion or journal-pinformed with or attached to a plate, a, which plate is located in arecess or chamber formed in a casing or frame, 0 c, the frame or casingbeing so formed as to leave a recess or chamber adapted to receive aplate, a, and the wheel or roller 1) and allow vertical play. As shown,this frame or casing is formed in two sections or parts, 0 0, one ofwhich, 0, has a recess or chamber for the wheel or roller 6, and islocated between the plate a and the face of the door, and the other, 0,has a chamber or recess for the end of the arm or lever by which theplate a is moved, and is located outside of and around the plate a, asuflicient space being left between the sections or parts 0 c for thereception of the plate a. These sections or parts 0 0 are attached tothe door by means of screws, bolts, or otherwise, and when in positiontheir lower ends project below the edge of the door a sufficientdistance for the passage of the guide-rail or track It between them, soas to be in line with the roller or wheel I), as shown in Fi 2'. Theserecesses for the passage of the guide-rail or track in the lower end ofthe casing or frame form at their terminus a stopor rest, which, whenthe door is down, comes in contact with and rests upon the track orguide-rail, forming a support for the door when lowered, and this stopor rest may be formed by the terminus of the slot or recess on bothsides or only on one side, and in either event it will be seen that thestop or rest and the track and roller must be always in the sameeoacting relation, for the reason that the roller and the stop or rest,being located or arranged on the same frame or support, must movetogether and in the same relation to each other. At the upper end of theplatea in this form of construction are lugs or pins d, formed with orsecured to the plate, and between these lugs or pins cl one end of thelink or lever 6 passes, which lever is attached to the frame or plate 0by a pin or pivot, f, and its other end passes through the loop orstirrup z 011 the lower end of the lever g. This end of the arm or leverc, as shown, is slightly curved, and this curved portion has its underface or edge resting on or in Contact with an anti-friction roller, h,pivoted to the lever 9 between the face of the lever and the face of thestrap or stirrup i, as shown in Fig. 1. I

Two rollers or wheels are used, one on each side of the door, and eachcarried by a plate, a, located in a frame or support, so as to movevertically, and connected at their upper ends with the levers or arms 0,and these levers or arms a have their outer or free ends pass throughthe loop formed by the strap or stirrup i over the anti-friction rollerh, so that the ends of both levers will be operated simultaneously bythe roller h. r r

The lever g may be formed as shown, or in some other suitable manner.This lever is pivoted at or near its center to the plate j, secured byscrews or otherwise to the face of the door 13, and this plate j, asshown, has a recess to receive the body of the lever, the sides of whichare beveled or inclined toward the center, and form stops to limit thethrow of the lever. As shown, the upper end of the lever has a stirrupor strap, i, which forms a handle,which can be grasped by the hand tomove the lever, but some other device may be used for this purpose.

It will be understood that the strap or stirrup i, at the lower end ofthe lever also forms a handle by which the lever can be operated to openand close the door.

The operation is as follows: \Vhen the door is to be opened orclosed,the levergis pushed or pulled, as required, to move the door inthe desired direction to open or close it, the operator taking hold ofthe strap or handle 2' or z" for this purpose. The movement of the upperend of the lever in one direction carries its lower end in the oppositedirection by reason of the central pivot, and this movement of the lowerend of the lever causes it to describe an arc of a circle, the movementbeing the same no matter in which direction the such plates down,forcing the rollers 1) onto the track It, and raising the door, so thatit rides free and clear on the rollers or wheels, when it can berolledforward or back, as required, to close or open the door.

The construction and operation of devices just described are intendedfor use where the track is below the door and the rollers are at thelower end of the door.

In place of using a sliding plate, a, in the form of construction shownin Figs. 1 and 2, where the lever or arm is in two parts, such levers orarms might be located lower down on the door, and the rollers or wheelsjournaled or mounted on their inner ends within the casing or frame, sothat as such inner ends are depressed by elevating the outer or freeends the rollers or wheels will be brought into contact with the trackor guide-rail, or the inner end of each lever orarni might be turned orbent down, and the roller or wheel be journaled or mounted on the end ofsuch turned or downward extended portion,and be brought into contactwith the track or guide-rail by raising the outer or free end of eachlever or arm; and it will be readily seen that various other forms ofsupporting these rollers or wheels could be used in connection with alever or other device located on the cardoor, by which the act ofopening or closing the door will bring the rollers or wheels intoengagement or contact with the track or guiderail. By this method ofsupporting or hanging the door it will be seen that when the door is atrest, in either its open or closed po sition, the rollers or wheels willbe out of contact with the track or guide-rail, the weight of the doorthrowing the rollers or wheels up' as soon as the lever g is released,and that when the rollers or wheels are not engaged with the track orguide-rail the door rests on its bearings and is immovable to the sameextent as if rollers or wheels were not used.

The bearings on which the door rests may be formed by the end or face ofeach frame at the terminus of the slot which receives the trackorguide-rail, or such bearings may be formed of independent blockssuitably at tached to the end of the door and adapted'to rest on thetrack or guide-rail when the door is dropped down, provided that suchindependent supports are attached or connected with the roller frame orsupport, so as to be virtually a part thereof, and be maintained in thesame relation to the rollers in all oircu1nstances. By thus making therollers and the stops or rests for the door coaeting it will be seenthat these two parts maintain their same relative position irrespectiveof any shrinking of the door or droppingor raising of the track, bywhich means, when the door is at rest, the rollers will be clear of thetrack and the door will be immovable by reason ofengagcment of the restsor stops with the track, and this feature of maintaining the samerelation between the rests or stops and the roller is essential where itis desired to have the door remain immovable when the rollers are notengaged with the track, and to insure the engagement of the rollers withthe track when the door is to be moved.

\Vhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination, with the car-door, its rollers, and rail, of thehorizontal roller-levers, the vertical handlever, and means by which thevertical lever is connected with the inner ends of the horizontallevers, substantially as described.

2. Ina car-door hanger, a roller or wheel operated through connectingdevices by the act of opening and closing the door, in combination witha stop or rest connected with the rollersupport and coacting with theroller for opening and closing the door readily and holding itstationary while at rest, substantially as described.

3. Ina car-door hanger, a roller or wheel carried by a sliding plateoperated through eonueetingdevices by the act of opening and closing thedoor, in combination with a stop or rest connected with theroller-support and coacting with the wheel or roller for bringing theroller or wheel into engagement with the track or guide-rail, andkeeping the wheel or roller from engagement with the track or guide-railwhen the door is at rest, substantially as and for the purpose setforth.

4. In a car-door hanger, a sliding plate, a, carrying a wheel or roller,Z), and a stop or rest connected with the roller-support and coactingwith the roller, in combination with a lever located on the car-door andconnected roller will be brought into engagement with the track orguide-rail as the door is opened or closed, and will be clear of suchtrack or guide-rail when the door is at rest, substantially as and forthe purposes specified.

rest connected with the roller-support and coacting with a lever, g,pivotally attached to the door at its center, and a connecting arm orlink, 6, for depressing the plate and bringing the roller or wheel intocontact with the tracl; or guide-rail, substantially as specified.ED\VARD Y. MOORE. lVitnesses:

ALBERT H. ADAMS, 0. IV. Born.

5. In a CZtPdOOl hanger, a sliding plate, a, carrying a roller or wheel,Z), and a stop or with the sliding plate, whereby the wheel or

